There are few shows as massively popular as AMC's The Walking Dead. The zombie apocalypse is currently in the midst of its whopping eighth season on the network, and is showing no signs of slowing down. As such, there has been a revolving door of characters who were introduced, stole our hearts, and then were promptly killed off in a variety of gruesome ways. While fans have become desensitized to this type of heartbreak through the show's long tenure on the air, the first handful of major character deaths punched audiences in the gut. This includes Maggie and Beth's father Hershel, and it turns out that actor Scott Wilson took a morbid souvenir from the set: his decapitated head.
This hilarious tidbit was revealed from Scott Wilson's recent appearance on Radio and TV Talk. During his conversation, he revealed he took home Hershel's head, which is currently sitting in his closet at home. He said,
My wife keeps it in the closet. One head like that is enough around here!
This is a pretty hilarious, albeit gory, gift to take from the apocalyptic drama. But Hershel's death is one of the show's most iconic, so it makes sense that he'd want to take home a piece of the series. After all, Hershel was a major character starting at the very beginning of Season 2, before American had truly been bitten by the Walking Dead craze.
In the early stages of The Walking Dead, Hershel largely served as a moral compass for the group. In both skirmishes against The Governor, he tried to keep Rick and the others in a space of forgiveness, mercy, and humanity. But any Walking Dead fan knows that the nicest characters usually don't last, and Hershel ultimately died in the Season 4 midseason finale. After being captured by The Governor he was ultimately decapitated, leading to a giant shoot out that destroyed The Prison. His zombified head was eventually show on screen, and Michonne put the Greene patriarch out of his misery once and for all.
This actually isn't the only time a Walking Dead cast member stole a decapitated head from the set, and it presumably won't be the last. Norman Reedus aka Daryl Dixon also took a zombie head, which lives in his trailer onset in Atlanta. While it's slightly less creepy because it isn't Reedus' own head, you can't help but appreciate how much the cast and crew appreciates all the gory goodness that the series brings. It should come to no surprise that stars often have a hard time adjusting back to normal life after being killed off, as they live most of their year in Atlanta covered in blood and guts.
The Walking Dead will return to AMC on February 25th, 2018. In the meantime, check out our midseason premiere list to see when your other favorites are returning, and our cancellation list to see if one of your shows got the chop.
